Meet the Heroes
by Chilemex
Summary: A one-shot collection, focused on the nine classes and setted in a context in which respawn exists but has a relative meaning; indeed, these characters have some thoughts, ideas, and personal stories. Every chapter will be focused on one of the mercenaries, and will tell their actions in the battle and their thoughts out of it. Come and meet the heroes of this eternal battle!
1. Meet the Scout

_"Scout"... I still wonder why they gave me this stupid appelation. I mean, couldn't it have been something like "thunderbolt of death"? Well, I guess my comrades are not that better, talkin' about appelations..._

I hurtled out of the spawn faster than the others, as always. That probably was my tenth mission that week, and I still hadn't been injured. That's why I felt incredibly strong, ready to do anything. I had already reached the second control point, while the others were still trudging at the first, and I could already hear the battle cries of the RED team components. I didn't hesitate for a second, and kept going undaunted.

_But think 'bout that. All the other members of the team would be capable of hitting me and frickin' knock me out with a single punch in the face, considering the difference between their weight and mine... And yet, I've always managed to survive or win against enemies that were much bigger than me, thanks to my agility that no one else seems to have. You could think "how lucky!"... But no. It's all skill, baby._

Just when I reached the third control point, the one that still needed to be captured, I hid behind a wood wall and breathed quickly. The enemies' voices were getting closer, some of them were probably on the limited area of the control point already, but I didn't mind that.

I gripped my sawed-off shotgun, my loyal primary weapon. Thanks to his being light and handy, it's perfect for running around and hitting enemies. My opponents usually cannot even see who is killing them!

«Aw, c'mon guys! Move it up!» I screamed to my comrades, hoping that they were quickly getting closer.

_As it is easy to notice, I'm the youngest in this gang of mercenaries. Actually, I could still be defined "teenager". And this could make think wrong... Yeah, the others, but not me!_

_I've never minimally regretted undertaking this "career" at such a young age. Action and adrenalin are what I've always looked for, so I couldn't ask for anything better._

I counted to three, then I showed up. I had heard right: the zone was full of RED team components, and almost all of them immediately noticed me. Without minding it, and naturally keeping running, I aimed at a Soldier and fired: missed. I didn't stop and aimed at a Medic: hit in the arm. Then I nearly got hit on the legs by a Sniper's bullet, but it's not easy to hit my legs. I went forward, and I saw someone coming out of the main enemy building: a BLU Engineer.

It did not take me long to realize that it wasn't possible: the other BLU team members were still far behind, and anyway an Engineer should never come this far in the battlefield.

«Spy!» I shouted as loud as I could, before jumping over that fella aiming at his head...

A single shot, and the Engineer miserably fell on the ground, slowly revealing his true identity.

_So why would I prefer going back to a peaceful and just too boring life? I mean... I love ma brothers, but with them I can't hope to live like I live now. In a simple life like that the only hobby is playin' baseball... And even though that's extremely funny, I need something more. And this job is perfect!_

I landed slipping on the ground, holding a perfect balance, and I continued through the building. No enemies on the way, at the moment.

But, after crossing the thresold on the back, someone appeared in front of me. It wasn't close to me at all, in fact there was an abundant 10-meters distance between us... But this doesn't mean that, at that moment, I was in deep trouble.

It was a RED Heavy, he had seen me and he was already preparing his giant minigun. I was under fire. I was dead.

_And if we really wanna talk about the other guys in the team... They're frickin' awesome! I could never give up staying with 'em. We eat, we drink, we laugh... And we cooperate in battle. Sometimes I suspect they occasionally find me annoying. However... What would they do without me? I am the soul of the team! And one of the strongest as well, let's be honest!_

It wasn't over yet. I could still make it.

I rummaged in my pockets and pulled out a canned drink: the "Bonk! Atomic Punch". One of my favourites, considering its incredible effects.

«Let's see if you can strafe dis, fatty fat!» I exclaimed, before gulping down the entire drink in a few swallows. An amazing discharge of adrenalin caught me for a few seconds, then I immediately felt ready to go.

I started running towards my enemy at the maximum speed, concentrated and determined, while he started powering his weapon.

Hundreds of bullets came to me... But not even one of them was able to hit me. I don't know if they were bouncing on me or I was just avoiding them, but it didn't matter... The only thing that was mattering was my safety.

I was only able to see the Heavy's perplexed expression, before jumping over him and hitting him with my bat, in the exact moment the drink's effect wore off. My beloved baseball bat... Here's another thing I couldn't give up to.

It should have been a fatal hit, because the enemy miserably fainted and didn't move anymore. So, I ran to the next control point and easily captured it by myself.

«Wohoooooo! In yo faces, RED douchebags!»

_This is how my life is: fast. I never linger on details, I don't waste any time, and I can't stand slow and boring things. And that's why I want to use my skills to help the team. It's the most convenient thing for me, and also the funniest! They don't call me "the pest" for nothing! I can infect everyone with my optimism and airiness. I am a model for everybody!_

_**I am the Scout. Fast, whippy and direct, I'm always the first to reach the destination.. And conquer it in the name of my team.**_


	2. Meet the Soldier

_How do you usually call that person whose help, regardless of the requested type of work, makes sense only if given with the help of many other people like him? Exactly, "Soldier". Well, that's what I am. A simple and helpful Soldier. Who do I serve? Myself, and my team._

I ran out of the base just when the countdown ended. Excluding the Scout who left at full speed towards the battlefield, I was the first on the "line". Even the Heavy allowed me to go before him, although his artillery could have resulted more effective on the direct enemy contact, at least more than the rocket launcher or the shotgun I owned would have done. But another thing I noticed was the silence: my comrades usually scream and yell before the battle, just like the undersigned, but that time no one was saying anything. I turned for a moment, without stopping advancing: they were all looking at me, as if they were waiting for something.

_And yet, I'm pretty sure that without me the team would be much different. Not necessarily regarding battles... But also and primarily regarding the relationships there are between us. Sometimes I feel like everyone are relying on me... For a moral support, at least._

«Ahem!» I started, stopping and looking at my comrades' faces, including the Scout who seemed to have come back just for that.

«Another battle is beginning, men! As always, I must remind you to be very careful and to avoid losing your internal organs. I know, I know, you're not a bunch of ladies, and one way or another you are still here, even though I always see you die with my eyes every day, but whatever! Do your best and the enemy won't have any hope! Come on, buddies!»

The others finally warmed up and yelled, fierce. They looked a lot more convinced, as if my "speech" had been just what they needed. Maybe it actually had...

_It's a strange sensation... But I admit that I like it. It makes me feel something better than a soldier... Like a colonel, a general... That's amazing! And considering that I'm one of the oldest in the team, the thing becomes even more believable! Ah, now this is something to brag for! I'm the colonel of the RED team, oh yes!_

Before following the others towards the enemy zone, I raised my voice and called one of my comrades.

«Scout! Here, now!»

The guy who had come back just before stopped and looked at me.

«Me?»

I approached him, severely looking at him in the eyes «Yes, you. You should try to hide your french accent better than this, you know?»

That being said, I didn't wait anymore. I took my loyal shovel and hit the Scout's head, quickly but hard. He fell down, and something around him seemed to melt and disappear in the air... And in a moment, the body of the BLU Spy materialized at my feet.

«Umpf. Maggot!» I snorted, advancing to reach my real mates.

_On these battlefields we fight, we kill, we die and we somehow return to fight. And the same thing happens to our opponents. Is this really a Soldier's function? To kill, to die and to return? Isn't a Soldier supposed to serve the motherland?_

«I'll never reach them like this... I have to use the technique. That technique»

I had just gotten to the second control point, but the others were still further. Because of this, I decided to speed the things up: I positioned myself in front of one of the huge walls that separated the zones, I pointed the rocket launcher to the ground, I breathed and...

«Incoming! ROCKET JUMP!»

I fired, and in a moment I was flying. The direct impact with that shot damaged me a bit, but nothing considerable. I tried to maintain the balance while I was rising upward, and when the moment of the drop came, I kept what I like to define "the landing position". When my feet touched the mainland, I took a look around: I was actually on the top of the wall, which leaned on the enemy base and on ours. I giggled, satisfied, before noticing that I wasn't alone, up there.

_The Soldier must always serve the others... This is what I studied, before joining the army. And it seems I did it for nothing... Because I left the military forces after a little time, despite my preparation. It looks like the road of the mercenary was attracting me more than the officer one... And it's still like this._

It was a BLU team Engineer, and he had noticed my presence in the same moment I had noticed his. He was projecting a sentry, which was still in its first construction phase. First he didn't do anything, but after a few seconds he helded a weapon and pointed it on me.

I know when it's time to give up... And that was not the time, I just knew it. So I stayed still, looking at the enemy's shaking hand firing his weapon...

A simple and weak gun, whose particular bullet gust perfectly hitted my helmet... Without damaging it at all.

«I don't know how you came this far» I said, being sure that the range of the weapon couldn't touch anything but the helmet «But it's time to get back to the base, recruit!»

I took my shotgun and fired a shot, without even aiming carefully, and the Engineer collapsed with no forces.

Apparently, sometimes that helmet is actually useful.

On the other side of the wall the battle was amoking; I took a last breath of the cigar I was consuming, then I threw it away. I felt ready for anything.

«Haha! I love this battle! I love this job! Yeee-haw!»

I destroyed the sentry before this could start working, then I jumped off the wall and continued to the enemy base... With my collegues.

_Yes, it's still like this. I've never regretted the decision I took; the soldier-mercenary concept is awfully better than the simple soldier one, I'm sure about that. I really love this job, and it's thanks to my comrades if I have learnt to appreciate it so much._

_**I am the Soldier. Balanced, determined and expert, I have the duty and the will to spur my team mates to do their best... And to help them conquer the victory with my experience in battle.**_


	3. Meet the Pyro

_Pyromania... There are those who define it a disease, a pathology, an addiction, a mental illness, a definitely wrong unload method... The strangest ideas. For me, the pyromania is not any of those... It is a lifestyle._

The situation was nothing short of tragic. Almost all the team members were holed up in the base, while the few bravest ones who had stayed out were at high risk of being brutally killed. Indoors, instead, the team was desperately trying to draw up a counter-attack strategy or, at least, a survival one... But no one seemed to be sure about his ideas. It really looked like the end of the road, for that mission.

«We can't do anything, dammit!» screamed the Sniper «They're going to get us directly in our base and bloody kill us!».

While he was speaking, a Scout materialized in the base, with a confused and disoriented look.

«A-am I here again?» he murmured, shaking his head.

«Yes, which means that they massacred you out there» added the Soldier «Damn everything... We are screwed! They're gonna come here and make our ass burn for the pain!»

For some seconds, panic and discomfort kept reigning, until someone seemed to have a flash of inspiration.

«Burn...» said the Heavy in a low voice, but despite this everyone heard him.

And in a moment, eight pairs of eyes were pointed at me, who was staying in a corner fiddling with a lighter.

«Mmph?»

_Honestly, I don't even think I'm affected by pyromania... It's just that everybody started calling me like that after seeing in which kind of battle I'm specialized. Bah, it's not the first time someone judges me for something I'm not. I've heard everything, in my life: people saying I'm a girl (and who knows?), others thinking I'm not even human, calling me "alien" or something like that... Needless to say, they've all been incinerated on the spot. Ah, maybe I shouldn't have specified that._

Their strategy was as dangerous as effective, at least apparently.

My job was to lurk near the main entrance of the base, naturally still staying inside it, wait for the enemies trying to get in and stave them off with a little fire in their faces. Dangerous for me, of course, but mostly for the others. My teammates instead, those cowards, would have waited for the right time to get into the action, hidden in the safe zone of the building. Whatever...

Anyway, I didn't have to wait much before hearing a loud sound of steps out of the entrance, getting closer and closer.

They were coming.

_And the enemies are not the only ones speculating on my identity. Once, while I was eavesdropping, I heard some teammates of mine saying that they had found a flowered handbag in my locker. So, some of them kept thinking that I am a girl, while others passed to the homosexuality theory. I seriously can't understand them... Me being male, female, homosexual, human, alive... Why do they care? I'm always a member of the team, aren't I?_

I firmly grasped my flamethrower and got ready. Apparently, the result of the mission depended only on me. I took a deep breath (as possible it is to do it while wearing a mask like mine) and made a step forward.

In that exact moment, the portcullis opened; in front of me there were probably all the nine components of the enemy team, and maybe their three backups as well. I was able to notice a Demoman, a Heavy, a RED team Soldier (clearly a disguised Spy), a Medic and not just them. However, I tried to not mind that and I focused on my job.

The amazed and surprised faces of the opponents were the last things I saw, before pressing the trigger. And in the exact moment I did it, I forgot all the fears I had before... In that moment there were just me and the fire wall that was burning the enemies alive.

I heard some screams, some desperate help requests, some strong coughs that suddendly stopped... But the only thing I was seeing was the fire, my essence. I couldn't help laughing in a way that could have been defined hysterical, even though I knew that the only thing that could have been heard from outside was a murmur barely similar to a laugh.

Differently from the usual, I didn't receive any injury or damage. Maybe the "surprise defense" had been more effective than expected. However, at a certain point, I stopped the fire flush and looked around.

The enemies' burnt bodies were lying on the ground, even the one of the other Pyro, unable to move. I looked beyond, and I saw that the only survivor of that massacre had been the Scout, who was trying to sneak off to his base.

_But, despite this, I think they still estimate me, or something like that. At the end of every won battle, there's always someone of them who comes to give me a pat on the back or to high-five me, even though he does it with some kind of fear and hesitation. After every lost battle, instead, someone comes to me and puts some consolation words together. They can't see it, obviously, but in those moments I smile and I'm happy. And I answer as well, although they can't hear anything different from some "Mmph". And this is what makes me feel good in the team; it's hard for me to demonstrate it though._

Could I have let him run away? Of course not. In a couple minutes, all the components of the other team that I had just defeated would have returned, and that Scout would have been advantaged, because he would have reminded them of my presence (after being defeated, you forget everything you saw in the previous action). He had to be killed as well, but by that time he was too far away for using the flamethrower.

I don't own other weapons for no reason.

I gripped my flare gun, aimed minimally and fired twice. The first shot missed, while the second one (with a lot of luck) hit him. The target caught fire, thing that increased his panic even more, and meanwhile I started running towards him. I had almost reached him, but just in that moment he jumped in a little water stream that splitted that battlefield zone.

Water. Needless to say, I hate that thing. It makes all my weapons completely useless.

Nay, almost all of them.

The enemy Scout was swimming in the rivulet to extinguish himself, and he had done it, but he wouldn't have withstanded something else. The water, indeed, wouldn't have helped him to heal the damages he got before, but just to stop the continuous pain flow.

I waited until he came close to the riverside, then I raised my fire axe above my head. The last thing that Scout saw was the blade getting closer to his forehead, while for me a single well-aimed shock between his eyes was enough to knock him out.

I wasn't able to contain myself and bursted out again, while my teammates started coming out of the base and run to invade the enemy one. The situation had suddendly overturned.

_In short, I don't care if sometimes my mates make fun of me and fear me in the meantime, I find myself great with them. And if I really have to resign myself to the idea of being affected by it, I also live well with pyromania. In fact, without it, I wouldn't be able to make my particular and significant contribution in battle. But, more than a pyromaniac, I would like to be definined as "someone who likes to play with fire". Fire and I are a single thing, that's true, but I'm not addicted to it... I'm just its friend._

**_I am the Pyro. Feared, mysterious and mercilessly, I hit the enemy with the help of the dangerous fire element, letting him without an escape and also preventing him from going back and get healed... Because flames and burns do their job by themselves as well, and in a little time._**


End file.
